Nigerian oil militants Sunday said they had released 19 Nigerian oil workers kidnapped two weeks ago but said they would hold on to a Briton and two Ukrainians taken at the same time, according to dpa. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which seized the workers from the group that originally kidnapped them, said in a statement that the expatriates could not yet be released due to "security concerns." Militant groups in the Niger Delta often attack oil installations and kidnap expatriate workers, saying they are fighting for a greater share of profits from oil exploitation for the poor of the region.
